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Sunday, March 11, 2007
Gov’t lifts deployment ban on Lebanon, Nigeria
MANILA -- The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) allowed again the sending of Filipino workers to Lebanon and Nigeria.
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However, Labor Secretary Arturo Brion said Saturday only overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have valid and existing job contracts prior to the suspension of the deployment will be allowed to return to Lebanon and Nigeria in the meantime.
Returning household service workers (HSWs) will be allowed to go back to Lebanon but “shall be subjected to policy reforms on household service workers.”
Newly-hired HSWs will also be permitted to go to Lebanon provided that their employers are endorsed by the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices, including members of the family of heads of state/government ministers, deputy ministers and senior government officials of the same or equal rank of the host country and members of the diplomatic corps and duly-recognized international organizations.
On the other hand, Brion said, non-HSWs, hotel staff and similar workers are not permitted to leave.
President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo stopped the deployment of Filipino workers to Lebanon after war erupted between that country and Israel last year, which led to the repatriation of thousands of OFWs wherein 65 percent of them were found to be undocumented or illegally staying in war-torn Lebanon.
The government also suspended the deployment of OFWs to Nigeria following the abduction of 23 Filipino seamen there.
Brion said the lifting of the ban on the deployment of workers to Nigeria will only allow the processing of papers of returning Filipino workers who are on vacation and are going to work with the same employer and work site in Nigeria.
“OFWs with new contracts are not allowed to leave,” he added.
Brion said the decision to lift the ban was due to improved security conditions in both countries. (Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (March 11, 2007 issue)
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